Ricochet
by Leanne Ash
Summary: It was unexpected that Sasuke would've cared at all as he reached forward and angrily grabbed Sakura's arm. "Why?" he demanded, as he glared into the single sharingan within her right eye. "Why do YOU have it?" AU SasuSaku
1. Chapter 1

******Ricochet**

By Leanne Ash

**Summary: **It was unexpected that Sasuke would've cared at all as he reached forward and angrily grabbed Sakura's arm. "Why?" he demanded, as he glared into the single sharingan within her right eye. "Why do YOU have it?" AU SasuSaku

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto characters. I'm not that clever. Not even close.

* * *

Red.

Then black.

Then red again.

"Sakura?" the raspy male voice repeated from outside her washroom door. "Did you hear what I said?"

Around and around the pinwheel spun as Sakura Haruno gripped the marble countertop of her small, windowless washroom. The weapon, it was called by some. The blessing, it was called by others.

Her teammate Naruto Uzumaki, a boisterous blue-eyed blonde, pounded excitedly at the door. The voice barely registers.

"I said he's back! Sasuke's back!"

_Sasuke_.

"I brought him in. He's being questioned in the detention area right now, but head to Tsunade's office!" the voice drifted as Naruto began to run from the room. "This is awesome! I can't wait to beat his ass concave!"

She stared into her washroom mirror, speaking forcibly in her head to the black and red manifestation in her right eye. The implant. The ultimate weapon. It had activated in response to Sakura's panic at hearing what she thought she would never hear again.

Sasuke was back. He was back after five years. He was back after deciding to abandon the society that raised him in favor of gaining power from another mentor.

The single sharingan spun, letting her know she couldn't fool herself so easily.

Sakura was the first and only female since Tsunade to have had the sharingan successfully implanted. She had no idea why; maybe it had to do with strength, maybe it had to do with resolve… maybe because through it all, she would NOT allow the possibility of failure.

The sharingan was the single most deadly tool unique to the Hidden Leaf, a private black ops squad beneath the city. The sharingan allowed users to see in the dark, to discover a weakness and to see beyond the normal range of any normal human being. After years of development, the implant was created in the operation's underground lab and testing had begun well before Sakura was first brought to the Hidden Leaf at ten years old.

She was an orphan.

They were _all_ orphans.

They were the convenient choice because they'd accept what appeared to be their _only_ choice. They were kids with nothing to lose.

The Hidden Leaf kept tabs on all orphans; if they stood out in some way, if they were stronger, smarter or faster, they were given the proposition to do something _outstanding_ with their lives.

Sakura had always been too smart for her own good, but it wasn't just her above-average intelligence the squad saw potential in: Sakura's appearance was above-average …_unique_. Her light pink hair and deep green eyes were a visual anomaly.

"She's too distracting," the recruiting council had argued. "Far too memorable."

"No one ever remembers us anyway," Tsunade, the Hidden Leaf's leader, reminded. Tsunade was the most powerful, influential woman in the operation. "Sakura will be a _key_ distraction when she's older. If it means a wig once in a while, then so be it. You'd be surprised at how often beauty gets you in a tough spot."

Sakura sighed at the conversation she had awkwardly sat through when she was a child. Ok, maybe looks had gotten her a place here as much as her intelligence, but there was more to her than a mere distraction factor. The deadly spin of the wheel in her right eye could attest to that.

Though she had been accepted and trained as a child, her place quickly fell into line with the other orphans who couldn't keep pace, who cracked from the intense constant pressure. Who, after being monitored during their first years of training and schooling, Tsunade could predict would fail to pull the trigger.

It didn't mean that these children would be kicked out. It simply meant that they were given missions with low risk factors or handed jobs within the operation that assisted the Hidden Leaf in other ways. But it also meant they were denied the sharingan.

Sakura, now nineteen years of age, had become wary of being used as _the distraction_ during missions that required one. Recalling her previous role in the hospital sector with fondness, she had begun refining this skill with earnest. She could distract, sure, but now she could heal. She wanted nothing more than to become a valuable medical asset during missions; to go beyond getting the mark's attention with her sweet, feminine wiles and then being pushed aside while her teammates did the real work.

And she had done it. Through months of testing and psychological preparation, Sakura was finally given permission to have the surgery done. Or _attempted_, some would argue.

She knew, like the short list of female members before her, that the risks were dangerously and severely high. If she didn't die on the operating table or go blind from the implant, she would most surely go mad the second her brain registered the scalding power that dug deep for a connection.

But she signed the papers. She took heed the warnings. She watched as the head of a needle buzzed forward into her eye socket with paralyzing fear, but unwavering determination.

And days later, when Sakura tentatively opened her eyes, she saw red.

It had only been successful in one eye, but if that was the one fated complication she suffered, she'd consider herself lucky.

She had the sharingan now. She had worked hard in the years following Sasuke's departure because she _knew_, deep down, that they would someday cross paths in the ugliest of circumstances. And she would need to be ready.

Her eyes winced to a close as she tried to barricade her heart from her last memory of Sasuke Uchiha. The stoic, spikey-headed boy with black hair and dark midnight eyes to match. He had been the council's favorite: the child prodigy. The best investment the Hidden Leaf had ever made. It didn't matter what weapon he was given, a sniper rifle, a samurai sword, or if he was given no weapon at all; Sasuke proved the victor.

Every high ranking mission had always been assigned to the prodigy. While she was doing what she could in the hospital, he had been ahead of his time. At twelve, Sasuke had successfully received the sharingan implant: both eyes, zero complications, as if he was born to have them. At thirteen, he held his rank amongst Hidden Leaf members in their twenties. At fifteen, Sasuke had surpassed almost everyone with a quiet knowing sneer.

And it was at fifteen that Sasuke Uchiha became frustrated with his progress. There was a secret hidden deep inside him that craved the advancement of power. He had come into contact with a man who had heard stories of him, the legendary Uchiha child. The man was a rogue member of the Hidden Leaf, a serpent from hell, so powerful and deadly the council saw fit to exile him once he became unstable. An assassination attempt failed. The man could not be defeated. This would be the man Sasuke sought to become.

And he left; seduced by the man's promise of unparalleled strength.

And Sakura had followed.

Because she loved him.

Because she loved him so much the broken heartstrings pulled like a jagged claw to her ribcage.

She begged him to stay. She begged him not to leave her. She confessed, in a choked barely there whisper, that she loved him. That she loved him _so much_. That she wouldn't know what to do with herself if he weren't there.

And her world shattered. Fragile, forgotten pieces bled to the ground as Sasuke turned to acknowledge her for the first time with that achingly handsome face.

"_That's kind of pathetic."_

She opened her eyes. A shield of emerald green had washed back over the iris. She breathed a sigh of relief as her demonic counterpart vanished. The sharingan had only been implanted a month ago, and according to Tsunade, it could take several more before she had full control of how it activated and deactivated.

Of course, Sasuke had learned to control it within the hour. Naruto followed close behind; learning in less than a week.

Sakura left her bathroom and paused to consider appearances at her full length mirror. Hurried footsteps and excited whispers could be heard outside in the hallway. News of Sasuke's return was spreading fast.

Having just returned from a mission, she was clad in black tights and a black quarter-sleeved top: the standard color of choice in this modern-day ninja world she lived in. _Pink_, some had scoffed, was the complete opposite of practicality and her hair was considered obscenely ridiculous. Her long pink locks were currently pulled into a neat conservative pony tail, thin bangs framing her porcelain face. Tsunade had told her never to dye it, never to change what made her special, so she ignored what everyone else had to say on the matter.

The footsteps in the hall continued.

Knowing her presence was needed in Tsunade's office, she threw on a thin, black leather jacket and pushed the sleeves to her elbows. She glanced at the mirror once more to make sure her right eye was still green.

It was.

_Stay… _she commanded silently, as she entered the hallway and fell into step with the other scurrying members of the Hidden Leaf.

"Gorgeous!" a voice called from behind.

"Hey, Kiba," Sakura answered distractedly.

Kiba Inuzuka was another successful recipient of the sharingan. Tall, brown-haired excitable Kiba with distinct red fangs tattooed down the sides of his angular face. Along with Sakura's pink hair, Kiba's tattoos also served to ruffle some of the more conservative feathers in the area.

"I guess you heard, huh?"

"Hard not to."

"Are you ok? I mean, I know you guys were close…"

"Sasuke and I weren't close, Kiba," she corrected quickly. "I was assigned as his bedside nurse a few times, but that's it."

"Oh, c'mon, Sakura! You guys hung out more than that!"

"Only because of Naruto! He wanted us to be friends, but Sasuke only saw me as another annoying fan girl…"

"Are you saying you weren't?"

"Oh," she laughed humorlessly, "I was the worst of them."

"Give yourself credit. He acknowledged you more than any of the other rabid fan girls here."

"Is that suppose to make me feel better about his betrayal?"

"Of course not," Kiba shrugged. "You shouldn't even give him the time of day."

"I don't plan on it."

The words dragged past her throat like sand paper.

Nobody knew that she had been the last person to see Sasuke leave. She had built a cast around the fragile fourteen year old that so shamelessly put her heart on the line to keep the boy she dreamt of at night. It could not have ended less humiliatingly just as it could not have ended any other way.

It was the devastating consequence of failing to resist an unrequited love.

Vying for a change of topic as they made their way out of the dormitory, Sakura eyed the sniper rifle strapped to Kiba's back.

"You just get back from a mission too?"

"Yep. Quick and dirty. Mob boss. You?"

"The distraction," Sakura sighed. "Slutty bike enthusiast."

"I had that role once. Mission failed horribly."

"That's a surprise, Kiba. You should've had that in the bag."

"Did you get to use the evil eye?"

"Only during the retreat. Naruto planted the microphone and we were done. The client's happy. Easy job."

"Hey, you gotta start somewhere."

"I know. I just thought my distraction days would be over once I got the sharingan."

Kiba laughed. "What do I keep telling you, Gorgeous? Embrace your hotness. It saves the others a lot of time and energy when you're doing your job. Don't forget that."

"I know that. I do. I would just like to be useful in a way that didn't involve showing skin."

"And you _will_ be, but this shit" – he gestured to his eyes – "doesn't get figured out overnight. And you've only got one. That's pretty freaky, sister."

She pushed him playfully with her shoulder. "Asshole."

They were reaching the end of the dormitory hallway. Kiba reached forward to get the handle.

"They'll get you more involved once you've banked more experience on the field," he paused to open and hold the door for Sakura. "Until then, get used to them treating you like the delicate cherry blossom you are, _m'lady_!"

"Oh, kitten whiskers," Sakura sighed with mock defeat. "Whatever will I do without a big strong man and my basket of flowers?"

"That's the spirit!"

They snickered and she was thankful for the distraction.

* * *

"How do we know Sasuke wasn't brought here as a spy for Orochimaru?"

"Of course he's a spy! Orochimaru must be trying to find a way to bring the Hidden Leaf down from the inside!"

The doubtful voices of some of the members grew louder as Sakura and Kiba reached Tsunade's office. Sakura frowned. They were right. It was a definite possibility considering the snake man's exile from the Hidden Leaf.

Of course, Naruto could always be counted upon.

"You didn't see what I saw at the front gates when I found him. Something happened..."

He briefly made eye contact with Sakura as she quietly entered the room.

"I don't know what. But all he wanted was to come home. Here. He knows he made a mistake."

"And were those his exact words, Naruto?" Tsunade asked skeptically from behind her desk.

"That's the rough translation," Naruto insisted. "You remember he wasn't exactly an open book."

Tsunade was considered the strongest member of the operation through both power and presence. She commanded the room with her deep hazel eyes, long blonde hair and surprisingly voluptuous chest. For a woman well into her fifties, she was a ravishing beacon of strength. The first, and thought to be only, female carrier of the sharingan, Tsunade was not a woman to be trifled with as easily as Naruto made it seem.

The room cringed as she began to glare daggers at the rowdy blonde before her.

They continued to argue as Sakura scanned the room. It was currently being occupied by the higher-ranking members, which, she was now proud to say, included herself. They were all sharingan users... and all male it would seem, Sakura thought with a roll of her eyes. Except for Tsunade and herself now, thankfully.

Her eyes kept moving. She was doing well to keep herself distracted from the drama at hand. ANYTHING to keep her thoughts from...

"Sasuke's been passed through security, Tsunade," a member entering the room stated.

Well, it _was_ the reason they were all standing there like idiots.

"Anything incriminating?"

"No, ma'am," the man answered. "Kusangi strapped in plain view. Glock was unloaded. He handed everything over willingly."

Tsunade seemed to contemplate this information, setting her mouth in a thin line as she did so.

Naruto stared at the woman expectantly, an eyebrow raised higher than humanly possible. "C'mon, Grandma...!" he hissed impatiently. Sasuke had been Naruto's best friend - he obviously could not see what was taking so long to figure out.

The room visibly cringed for the second time.

"_You_," Tsuande barked, as she reached across her desk and shoved a palm into Naruto's shoulder. He flew backwards into a nearby chair, baffled yet again by how a woman Tsunade's age could be so monstrously strong. "Sit down and shut up."

She turned her attention back to the messenger. "Bring him in."

Sakura exhaled slowly. She kept her focus straight ahead, giving off the visual of her undivided attention, but not once did she look directly at what everyone else was surely closely following.

The door opened, and in her peripheral strode in that predictable hot mess of black.

Twenty year old Sasuke-_fucking_-Uchiha.

From what she could tell (by not actually looking, mind you), Sasuke's spiky hair regime had not changed in the slightest as she could make out the sharp midnight angles in all their unfocused glory.

_Don't look, _her heart warned as it ran circles around her rib cage. _Eyes ahead, eyes on the floor, eyes __**crossed**__ even, woman!_

"Why are you here?" Tsunade asking conversationally, though she happily allowed suspicion to soak her banter.

"I can't work for Orochimaru anymore. I'm done."

Sakura's eyes snapped to Sasuke's face. His voice was deep velvet; dark and smooth like some decadent dessert that the universe felt she didn't deserve.

She instantly regretted looking at his face as the details absorbed like a sponge. Though it was just his side profile, it was almost enough to surface all the crippling emotions she had buried deep beneath her toes. The slight imbalance of gravity let her know that those feelings were pushing hard against their coffin lid.

But those nails had been hammered tight. And she breathed a sigh of relief as the rush of seeing Sasuke's handsomely defined face flew in and out with the room's circulating air flow.

If he came back home, the girls would love him more for sure. With that sharp, magazine face, and the way those rippling muscles did little to conceal themselves beneath Sasuke's relaxed black attire, he would surely return to being the rude, hot commodity all the girls went bat-shit for.

Now that they were older, sex would surely be the newest tactic the other girls at the Hidden Leaf would use.

The thought stirred something unpleasant, but Sakura brushed it away. Fine, whatever. Let him come back and deal with all the bat-shit girls he could handle. There were certainly more now working in the area than there had been five years ago when he left.

And at least there would be one less he'd have to worry about now. She would make that promise to herself.

"Why did you think this would concern us?"

The prodigy sneered, black eyes challenging the society's leader. "Because you need me."

"Like a hole in the head..." Sakura heard Kiba mutter to himself.

"The Hidden Leaf's been fine without you, kid," Tsunade smiled mockingly. "Besides, how would we function with a traitor in our midst?"

The room fell silent as a scowl etched Sasuke's appearance.

"He didn't_ really_ betray us," Naruto intervened quietly. "He just got bored and wanted to learn new stuff somewhere else."

Sasuke quickly shot his former friend a look, one that seemed thankful, yet warned him against interfering further through the promise of deadly mayhem.

"Then did you get _bored_ apprenticing Orochimaru?"

He seemed to be summoning the strength to be patient with his own trial. "Not exactly. We stopped seeing eye-to-eye on certain matters."

"What matters?"

"_Particular_ matters."

"You aren't willing to divulge?"

"I won't reveal the details of Orochimaru's group just as I wouldn't reveal to him the inner workings of the Hidden Leaf."

"What if it meant the difference between coming home or being killed where you stand?"

Sakura could feel the air stiffen. Wordlessly and motionlessly, she knew every member in the room suddenly had their hand resting on their weapon of choice. At Tsunade's command, they would attempt to kill Sasuke Uchiha despite what they had previously thought of him.

This was the power of the Hidden Leaf's loyalty.

Only Naruto stood to somehow deflect the authority in Tsunade's voice. "Hey, knock it off, Grandma! You've got to admire the integrity at least!"

"I've got this, you moron," Sasuke insisted warily, smug stance showing he had very little regard for the deadly intent surrounding him.

"Who cares what that snakey douchebag's been up to?" Naruto continued. "Look, as long as it's on the need-to-know, like, is he coming to blow up the Hidden Leaf, Sasuke?"

The black-haired boy raised an eyebrow skeptically. "No."

"Does he stay up at night crying about how the Hidden Leaf kicked him out then tried to kill him?"

"...No."

"So he didn't send you in here to kill us all and then steal our televisions?"

"...No."

Naruto smiled at Tsunade triumphantly. "Then we're gravy, Grandma! Let's order a welcome cake from Diary Queen!"

"SIT _DOWN_, UZUMAKI!" Tsunade practically barked.

The spikey-headed blonde did as he was told, but did little to buff the knowing grin off of his face. If he hadn't been in such good standing with Tsunade for being as skilled as he was, she would've surely ordered Naruto's death right there on the spot.

Mouth slightly hung open in contempt, Sasuke could only stare Naruto down with a slow shake of his head.

"Sasuke Uchiha," the woman began with impatience. "I'll be honest with you. Word has gotten back to the Hidden Leaf's council that you're back and the majority are interested to see what skills you've acquired during your absence."

"Fine," he replied casually.

"However," Tsunade continued, glaring at the boy's carefree response. "Your loyalty and motives are still up for debate. You will be under close and constant surveillance for as long as I see fit. No solo-missions and no leadership roles. If you break rank, your ass is mine."

"Fine," he repeated.

"You will shadow this one," she commanded with a flick of her wrist in Naruto's direction, "for the time being. Don't get in his way. Just assist. Got it?"

"Fine," Sasuke said again, this time through gritted teeth.

"Good. Now get out. I have to discuss the details of your surveillance. Head to the disciplinary sector for retraining."

Sasuke nodded tersely and turned to leave the room. Black eyes darted around quickly, as if committing to memory the faces of those that would later be observing his every move.

He glanced disinterestedly in Sakura's direction, and for a moment she wasn't sure if he even recognized her. This was proven wrong quickly. A split-second, double-take later and Sasuke had reached her with lighting speed, grabbing angrily at her upper arm and pulling her forward from where she stood.

"Why?" he demanded sharply. "Why do YOU have it?"

"Sasuke, what the hell!?" Naruto protested.

Kiba, who had rushed forward to Sakura's defense, grabbed the arm that was gripping Sakura's. "Get the hell off her, man."

"What's your problem...!" Sakura began to hiss, but realization dawned. She followed his line of sight, and quick to follow were red fragments of data that scanned Sasuke's grip for possible weaknesses.

She knew what he was seeing.

One green eye. One red. Deadly. A spiral of manifesting strength.

Sakura blinked in confusion, allowing the single sharingan to disappear. She was unaware that Sasuke's mere presence had alerted the need for a heightened sense. But even if it had activated, so what? It was unexpected that he would have cared at all in the first place.

Impatient with Sakura's stunned lack of response, Sasuke directed his question towards Naruto as the he ran up to grab his shoulder. "_Why_ does SHE have it?"

"It's a long story-" Naruto began, but Sakura abruptly cut him off.

"What's that suppose to mean?"

Sasuke's glare moved back to Sakura's face. A pair of expertly trained sharingan eyes stared her down as they scanned the wide, stoic green ones looking back. She knew he had found only the one active implant. The other in her left remained dormant beneath its shallow, emerald-colored grave. Was that what that look of disgust was for? The fact that she couldn't handle the full sharingan the way he so easily could? Did he think it was wasted on the likes of her?

Would it have been so bad to knee him between the legs since he was already at such close proximity?

"Is there a problem, Uchiha?" Tsunade asked, tone suggesting she had met her quota for bullshit.

Just as quickly as he deactivated his sharingan, Sasuke released Sakura's arm and pushed off both Kiba and Naruto.

"None," he snapped.

Sakura didn't bother to see whatever asshole expression Sasuke had for her as he left the room. Adjusting the collar of her jacket, she shrugged off the questioning looks on Kiba and Naruto's faces as the room silenced to hear Tsunade's next instructions.

"That sure as shit was awkward..." Kiba murmured.

"Yeah, what the hell do you think that was about?" Naruto leaned in to whisper.

Sakura smirked, pleased with her new initial reaction of brushing Sasuke off like he was perpetually yesterday's news. "Whatever. If he's got a problem with my sharingan he can deal with it on his own."

* * *

**Note:** I bought a new laptop to haul with me to coffee shops during my lunch break. Though my everyday profession has very little to do with writing, I find it therapeutic to escape the office just so I can write whatever I want at the Starbucks across the street. Low and behold, I started crafting another SasuSaku fic. I still like reading fan fiction about them, but found very little time to write one myself. I was wrong. I had time. I just spent it in the wrong places. Anyway, hope you like where I'm going with this. Sorry for bad grammar/spelling/all that... I just type like I'm on fire and upload away... Please leave a review and tell me what you think! Or tell me it's garbage. I'm flexible.


	2. Chapter 2

******Ricochet**

By Leanne Ash

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Sasuke Uchiha rolled back his shoulder as he wearily regarded the opening door to the training facility. It was late, but he couldn't seem to make himself do anything but workout even though the rest of the Hidden Leaf was likely asleep.

He had attempted, after being released from the wrath of the disciplinary staff, to fall asleep in the small apartment assigned to him in the dormitory, but something kept his overactive muscles twitching well into the night.

And so, as if to mock the efforts of those attempting to overexert him, he reentered the training sector of the Hidden Leaf and continued on like the day had never reached a pause, as if the staff telling him to fuck off for the night and get some sleep was a mere bathroom break that disrupted his concentration.

Sweat glistening from his shirtless form, he glared at the man approaching the weight machine he was currently making a mockery of.

"Sasuke," the man greeted dully.

"Kakashi," he mumbled with a nod.

Kakashi Hatake, like Tsunade, had been around the Hidden Leaf for quite some time. Silver haired and wise beyond his years, the man maintained his ninja persona even off hours; wearing a cloth around his neck that masked the bottom half of his face. He kept an eye concealed beneath a slouching forehead protector, explaining simply that he never felt the need to reveal his second sharingan unless absolutely necessary. He joked constantly that using both eyes gave him an unfair advantage against his opponents.

"You've been repeating this regime for the past three days, you know."

Sasuke pushed the machine back to its default setting and used a towel to wipe the sweat from his face.

Kakashi smirked. Before his five year absence, he had been the boy's training instructor since the first day Sasuke set foot into the underground black ops society. He predicted of course, that very little would have changed in Sasuke's personality and conversational abilities. Or lack there of. Like a HUGE lack there of.

"They make you train from morning till night to punish you. If you're coming in after hours on your own time they must not know what they're doing."

"They don't. Maybe the Hidden Leaf needs to be more selective of who they let in."

"This coming from the kid they _just_ let in despite his abandonment issues."

Sasuke pushed damn black bangs from his face and regarded the man's relaxed confrontation as he leaned up against the opposite wall. He despised being called _kid._

"Pissed off at me still for surpassing you so fast?"

The older man wasn't ruffled in the slightest. "You left because this place wasn't giving you power fast enough. Why come back here when you know there's nothing more to gain?"

The younger man's gaze dropped quickly to the ground.

"Unless... it's because you have nowhere else to go?"

Sasuke stood nonchalantly, wrapping the towel around his sweat glistening shoulders. "I know you read the transcript from the interrogation."

"I did," the older man shrugged. "You said you were tired of working under Orochimaru. You said you preferred the working environment at the Hidden Leaf. You said, oddly enough, quite a few times, that you were _done_."

Black eyes remained unflinching. "Yeah?"

"Done what?"

Annoyance crept over the boy's spine. His muscles tightened, as if a ridged body could keep the older man from prying into the torn-out pages of his less than open book.

"Done _what_, Sasuke?" Kakashi repeated.

He glared out his exasperation, knowing that what he was about to say was probably the most pathetic thing his previous mentor would ever hear, but after five years of complete and utter bullshit, it was what it was.

"Everything," he replied simply. "Every-fucking-thing you can think of. I'm done with it. I'm back to live out my life doing what I do best.

Until I die."

It wasn't the whole truth, but it was the truth nonetheless. It was the closest Sasuke could get within arm's reach of honesty without revealing too much about his past: there really was nothing for him anymore. Anywhere. He had completed what felt like his life's purpose before he was twenty years old, and now he was at a crossroads; where the light never stopped being red, but blinked green for everyone else.

"Nobody is ever done with everything."

Sasuke smirked.

"Then you wouldn't know what it feels like to be here, would you?"

The silver-haired man stared passively through his one exposed eye. Figuring they were done, Sasuke threw on a black shirt and prepared to exit the room. He was no where near done training, but he wasn't about to spend the night awkwardly chatting with someone he once accused of not being good enough to train him.

"See you around, Kakashi," he mumbled over his shoulder.

"Why did Sakura's sharingan bother you?"

The question halted him as effectively as a brick wall. Black eyes turned towards Kakashi with a scowl caged behind black bangs. He had almost forgotten. Irritation seeped up just as it had before, and it bothered him to be reminded.

He hadn't meant to react the way he did, but seeing that sinister red iris peering at him from the person he least expected to have ever qualified... The pinwheel spun to dissect him, peeling away to predict the next move. Its neighbor, a deep pristine emerald, remained intact despite the madness operating so close by. The contrast had been eerie: beauty, and the means to destroy. For the life of him he couldn't quite understand why the sight of her had him furious in an instant, and only after violently grabbing her did he begin to register what he was doing.

It had been a goddamn stupid move and he cursed at himself for such a spontaneous overreaction.

"I didn't know they were allowing girls to have the implant again," Sasuke murmured, forcing as much chauvinism into his tone as possible. "I don't need fucking females getting in my way out there."

Of course that wasn't it.

Male, female, he could care less who had it.

The point was _she_ had it.

There was something about the sharingan that became your one-way ticket to a much darker place. A place that alienated you from yourself. A place that he currently resided. If you were strong, if you had the power of constant optimism on your side, like Naruto, you could tread the water for as long as it took and laugh at anyone's attempt to drag you down.

But not everyone was like Naruto.

Not everyone returned from a mission with the optimism that maybe doing what you did was for the greater good. That maybe, given the choice, you could opt to only end the lives of those who ruthlessly ended others, that your principals stemmed from the belief that killing one to save hundreds was worth it.

Instead, maybe you stopped caring who you had to destroy. Maybe, after a while, you enjoyed killing every single person that got in the way of your target when at first you would have avoided them. And maybe, just maybe, the sharingan embedded its power too far.

And suddenly, without you knowing, the switch has been flipped... and the lights turn off, and the clock stops ticking, and the shop is closed indefinitely – please try again later. You are but a former shell of a child that just wanted somewhere to call home.

He had seen it happen.

He had _felt_ it happen.

This was not a life that was meant for people like Sakura.

Pure, chaste, Sakura Haruno.

If there was something Sasuke thought he could predict about returning to the Hidden Leaf, it was that Sakura would be waiting with her god awful love and devotion. It was that guarantee, though annoying and stomach-turning, that felt strangely comforting five years later as he slumped against the secret gates to the Hidden Leaf and casually lit a cigarette. He had clawed his way backwards through hell and found himself back where it all began.

Truth be told, he never really liked Sakura. She was Naruto's friend mostly, but at least someone would be happy he was back.

He had always thought she was too damn innocent and naïve to be part of the Hidden Leaf. And the hair... the hair was frustratingly stupid. It was pink, of all colors of the rainbow, it had to be pink. One of the first things they taught you about being a ninja was to remain unseen and unmemorable. Sakura's hair was a cotton candy beacon that was more trouble than it was worth and her existence seemed to mock everything he took seriously. Of course, after being observed during her first few years of schooling, the council and staff felt her intelligence was best suited for the operation's own personal hospital.

He remembered being secretly glad that she wouldn't be assigned any missions and therefor wouldn't get in his way if they were ever paired up.

Though he saw her less frequently in the hospital as injuries on the job became few and far apart, it was because of Naruto that the three of them spent time together as often as they did. Naruto and Sakura were good friends, just as Naruto and himself had been good friends. It was inevitable that the three of them usually hung out to eat or study outside of missions.

And this was annoying.

Sakura was annoying.

All she did was fawn over him and flirt like a maniac, passing unwanted emotions daily like an aggressive high-five. To the face. With a chair. Made of steel. This wasn't a far cry from the other girls in the Hidden Leaf that behaved the same way, but because of their constant close proximity, Sakura's actions were far more amplified. He would've found her pretty if she wasn't so goddamn flaky and irritating right in his ear drum. Without fail, he openly ignored her pitiful attempts to get his attention, resulting in glares from Naruto who reminded him to be nice to their pink haired parasite.

But the three of them had a strange camaraderie.

Even though Sakura's gushing had been annoying, and Naruto's constant attempts to get him to "stop being a douche" were a royal pain in the ass, they were the closest people he had to calling friends. While he would admit to absolutely no one that Naruto was indeed his best friend, he could also begrudgingly admit (to absolutely no one) that he considered Sakura more than just another fan girl. Despite the flirting and the constant barrage of over-the-top compliments, she had been someone he considered a trustworthy colleague. It was admittedly bizarre that he felt this way whilst not really liking her all at the same time.

However, there was no denying that in five years, Sakura Haruno had built herself into quite the mystery. It was obvious she had grown up. He hardly thought of her as being attractive when they were younger, but it was hard to ignore the fact that she was more than note-worthy at this age with that curvy, thin figure and ridiculously immaculate face. Puberty had clearly been her best friend growing up.

But that wasn't the mystery.

How – seriously, _how_ - did she manage to shed her given role at the hospital and move up the ranks high enough to receive the sharingan? What made her want to start taking on missions? How well did she handle herself out there? How the hell could Naruto allow this to happen? She wasn't special. The operation could have _killed her_. She had done something so incredibly irresponsible and it stirred something unpleasant in the pit of his stomach.

All of these weird, frustrating thoughts pummeled their way to the forefront of his mind the moment he left Tsunade's office that day.

"If you say that out loud one more time it'll come back to kick you in the ass," Kakashi lectured darkly as Sasuke existed the room.

"Hn. Whatever."

The door slammed shut behind him.

There was really no reason to give a shit if Sakura had the sharingan. His mind was just bored. It was to be expected that he'd latch on to anything that was out of the ordinary as a means of mental survival. His life had been realigned to the tracks: a derailed train car, repaired and rejoined with the grand machine to carry on in the same scheduled direction. Anything, he concluded, that remotely surprised him, would garner his attention temporarily.

Sasuke made his way back to the dormitory, convinced that the subject of Sakura Haruno had already lost his interest.

* * *

"Surveillance is balls," Naruto sighed, tapping his knuckles against the car window.

Sasuke glared out the window silently, wishing the pelting rain was loud enough to drown out the annoying blonde sitting next to him.

Under Tsunade's orders, he was shadowing Naruto on every mission, no matter how low-risk and underwhelming. The had been hired by the Hyuuga Corporation to retrieve back a program allegedly stolen by the very man they were watching: Zaku Abumi, head of the Dosu Corporation. There was no going to the police; whatever was stolen was clandestine, and whatever it was was of none of their business. The Hyuuga Corporation had been forced to utilize the Hidden Leaf's underground services to retrieve back the device that was taken by their enemy. The companies were too well-known by the public to get their hands dirty and openly attacking each other was out of the question. The program, the client explained, had been placed on an unassuming USB stick that was heavily password encrypted. They needed it back before their rival company had a chance to crack the code.

It would be difficult to break into a building with reinforced security and blindly dig for an ordinary storage device.

But the challenge was half the fun, and Sasuke would have to get his kicks wherever he could.

First things first though it would seem: surveillance.

They needed to know Zaku like the back of their hand.

They had been following the man for almost a week and lucky for them, the man's schedule remained fairly predictable.

"He goes to the same strip club every night and then stumbles home. I think it's safe to say he doesn't return to his office. Ever."

"His bodyguard leaves to look outside and talk to the bouncer every forty to forty-five minutes," Sasuke noted. "But he's too fast. Gets it done in under a minute."

"Alley to the left," Naruto observed. "We could knock him out and hide the body behind those trash bins. Use that time to somehow pocket Zaku's key card."

"No. If he doesn't come back Zaku would know something's up."

"Like he'd notice."

"He'd notice. His bodyguard keeps looking at his watch like a bomb's about to go off. He knows he has to get back."

"Then how do you suppose we get the building key card without his bodyguard noticing, genius?"

"I'm _thinking_."

The blonde tapped his chin. "I think I've got an idea... I'll clear it with Tsunade first."

"What idea?"

"Not solid yet, but I might need Sakura in on this."

He snorted incredulously. "Why?"

"That's on the need-to-know, douchebag, and Tsunade says you aren't on the inside track yet. Technically, you shouldn't even be talking."

"Blow me, moron."

Naruto started the car. "I'm done for the night. Let's get some ramen."

"Does your body absorb nothing else?" Sasuke seethed. "We've eaten that shit every night this week."

"Consider it part of your punishment, for talking out your ass."

"_What_," Sasuke growled, "is your problem?"

Naruto took his time answering, checking over his shoulder before pulling their car out into traffic.

"Clearly you're the one with problems," the blonde grumbled finally. "If I can convince Tsunade to let Sakura help us you better keep that chauvinism crap to yourself."

He let his features remain placid as he leaned back nonchalantly into the passenger seat. Of course Naruto had asked him earlier why he had reacted so strongly to Sakura's sharingan. And of course, he fed him the same cock and bull statement he gave to Kakashi – the one that made him sound like a sexist shit starter.

"I know you don't think much of her for whatever reason, but she's one of my closest friends. She can handle herself, probably better than me sometimes, so if you say anything to cut her down I'll crack you in half."

"I wasn't going to," Sasuke snapped. "I just don't see why we need her in this case."

Naruto's blue eyes scrutinized him before returning back to the road. "Her skill set is... _specialized_. None of us can do what she does."

He shot the other boy a cryptic look. What the hell did 'specialized' mean? Could she shoot a crossbow blind-folded with her feet?

"What skill set?"

Naruto laughed coldy. "I doubt you care. It's too bad you don't know anything about her. Figure it out yourself if you really want to know."

If the blonde was trying to make him uninterested by forcing him to play twenty-questions, the tactic was succeeding. Naruto was right; if Sasuke really wanted to know something he'd figure it out himself. Otherwise, it didn't take much to deflate his curiosity.

"Whatever. Let's just get your stupid ramen."

* * *

He quickened his pace down the hall, well aware of the heels struggling to catch up to him.

"Sasuke!" the annoying voice called sweetly.

He knew he had brought this misery down on himself.

"What is it, Karin?"

It wasn't long before his presence at the Hidden Leaf transitioned from fear and contempt to lust and admiration within the hearts of the female population. He had hoped his reputation would've proceeded him, making him appear cold and violent in response to casual conversation, but his goddamn appearance once again was strong enough to overcome even the deadliest of rumors.

Karin, an attractive red head that probably arrived some time during his absence, was the first to begin approaching him in a manner he couldn't exactly turn down. He was a man after all, and he liked that she got straight to the point in offering herself for his personal needs.

"_Anytime you want, Sasuke,"_ she had whispered seductively._ "I won't tell a soul."_

The original arrangement had been simple: she'd smile and he'd nod. She'd show up at midnight and he'd pull her clothes off. She would ride him like an enraged hellcat until he pushed her aside. It was a fair enough deal at first, but he had begun indulging less and less as Karin became increasingly clingy during off-hours. Nothing in this world came free without grotesque consequences.

"I went to your room last night, but you didn't answer!"

"Sometimes that happens when I'm not there," he replied, doing nothing to hide his irritation.

"Well, it's been a few days since you've invited me over," she whined quietly. If she was hurt by his sarcasm, she didn't show it. Instead, Karin reached forward and tugged at the sleeve of his jacket. "I thought, maybeee..."

"Quit it," he growled with a quick recoil of his arm, "My nights are full. I'm doing surveillance work."

"You're doing missions again?" she squealed. "You never told me!"

"Ah," he pushed the courtyard doors open. "I'm going for a cigarette."

Karin didn't miss a beat. "I'll have one with you!"

He took a moment to analyze the situation. This crazy broad would follow him to the ends of the earth, unless...

He smirked coldly. "I can't stand girls who smoke."

She froze. Ruby brown eyes fell dejectedly and she seemed torn.

"Oh, y-yeah, ok..." she stuttered in confusion, "I actually don't-! I- I mean, actually I've never even ever-!"

The glass doors slammed shut before he could hear the rest of her insecure ramblings.

He surveyed his surroundings as he lit a cigarette. The courtyard was empty at this hour. It was mostly used by the younger students to study in during the day if the weather allowed. He remembered sitting at the far table, alone, studying when on more than one occasion Naruto would slam down his textbook and prattle on as if he wasn't being a giant, loud-mouthed machine built specifically to annoy him with a battery life that ran on infinite. Sakura usually followed close behind, sitting next to him at the table and rubber-necking his research material.

It was hard to tell if he thought back on these memories fondly. All he knew was that the courtyard was one of the few places he enjoyed at the Hidden Leaf currently because it became isolated at predictable times.

He registered the glass doors opening violently at the other end of the courtyard.

Sakura had pushed them open in what looked to be anger. Kiba Inuzuka followed close behind and appeared to be chasing after her as he opened the doors with just as much frustration.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at this. He didn't know if the two of them were dating, but he didn't want to be stuck with front row tickets to a childish lovers spat. He would've ground out his cigarette prematurely and left but there was something about the way Kiba grabbed Sakura's arm to slow her down that didn't sit well with him.

He had never been close with Kiba growing up (and it looked like he had gone ahead and tattooed fangs on his face like a fucking idiot), but without knowing exactly what kind of person he was or what kind of fight they were having, Sasuke decided to stand his ground and keep an eye on them from his peripheral. Besides, he argued internally, he had gotten here first. Why should he leave just because of them?

Sakura pushed aside Kiba's arm - oddly enough, to Sasuke's immediate satisfaction - and continued seething at him with what he could tell was extremely forced control. The boy stepped back, arms in the air with mock surrender as he continued to argue back heatedly in his defense.

There was something about Sakura's face, Sasuke noted, and the gesturing of her hands that didn't look like her anger was about petty relationship crap, if any.

_I'm sorry, _Kiba mouthed a few times and continued on with some kind of explanation. She calmed down with a resigning sigh and nodded. His hand touched her shoulder but he appeared to be pulling away back towards the glass doors. He was in a hurry to get somewhere. Sakura nodded again and smiled weakly, ushering him away with her hand. He said sorry again and _we'll talk later_, rushing back through the doors they came through.

Sakura didn't watch Kiba leave. She stared off distantly in another direction, lost in some kind of internal panic as she pulled a pack of cigarettes from her black flared trench coat and lit her own. Her eyes reflected a strange, chaotic calm – a look he was accustomed to seeing on all sharingan users. A look he was familiar with.

She looked hot... almost, frustratingly so. How could she get anything done out there without getting noticed?

_What is this so-called skill set of hers? Being a goddamn walking distraction?_ he thought sarcastically.

Sakura's long pink hair was swept up messily, revealing the sharp, but feminine bone structure of her annoyingly perfect facial features. At the very least she could have dyed that stupid strawberry garbage to give herself a more 'everyday quality'. He continued to scan her from his peripheral, also noticing her obvious problem with her own height deficiency: her black leather boots came with sharp six inch heels that looked to be composed of metal. She would die trying to run in those.

What business did she have out there? Really?

Sasuke rolled his eyes but kept them forward, noticing the slight turn of her head as she finally became aware of his presence through the corner of his eye.

Not very observant, he scoffed to himself.

She gazed at him only for a moment, breathing deeply on her cigarette before turning her body away.

They were far enough to quietly share the same area, but not close enough to feel the need for conversation.

But he knew her better than that.

She would be approaching him soon. He anticipated her onslaught of annoying questions; waiting for them to slice the air and break the awkward silence. This was the first time since his return they had been alone together and any minute now she'd bombard him the same way Naruto had, asking where he'd been and why he came back. Fuck. And why he had freaked out at her sharingon the way he did. He needed a better explanation or else she'd probably start crying right then and there in the middle of the courtyard.

The sound of grinding metal broke him from his thoughts as Sakura finished off her smoke with an elegant slide of her heel. Putting her hands into the pockets of her waistcoat, she headed back inside.

Without a single question.

Without a second look.

* * *

**Author's note:** Again, sorry for appalling spelling/grammar. I have NO business out here sometimes. Thanks so much for all the great feedback! I intended to have this chapter out a lot faster but things at work exploded and it was my birthday this past weekend (I'm 27! Got a tattoo to celebrate like some sassy rebellious teenager – cause why not). Now that Sasuke's introduction is somewhat out of the way (he's still a big ol' mystery though), I can get back to writing my badass Sakura. Stay tuned!


	3. Chapter 3

**Ricochet**

By Leanne Ash

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"Red, black, red, black..."

The quiet mantra repeated itself from barely moving lips.

"Red, black, red-"

"Sakura!"

The pink-haired girl clung to a single shard of glass and watched her reflection. The sharingan spun. It was fine, she told herself. It's fine. It works. It's there.

Sakura had climbed out of a back alley dumpster in desperate search of a reflective surface. Eventually she found a discarded vanity mirror and smashed it to pieces with a swift kick from her titanium heel.

She had taken a small shard captive and sat hidden behind the large dumpster that had previously broken her fall. She sat, watching her eyes, ridiculing the flawlessly operating sharingan, ignoring the throbbing pain in her side from her unceremonious fall.

"Black, red, black..." she continued to mumble. _You sneaky, son of a bitch..._

"_SAKURA_!"

The sound of hurried footsteps bounced off the narrow alley walls. Kiba had found her. Her sharingan worked fast to alert her of the familiar presence moving quickly in her direction.

"What are you doing? We have to go! The police are starting to arrive!"

"I know, I know! I just-"

"Get up!" Kiba ordered as he reached down and grabbed the collar of Sakura's jacket. "We're okay! You're okay! The mission was successful, but we _have to go_!"

He yanked hard on Sakura's collar, forcing her to her feet but ultimately snapping her out of her trance. She hissed in response to the abrupt movement as pain flooded her side.

"Are you hurt?"

She stubbornly brushed aside the pain and focused on the matter that troubled her.

"My sharingan..." she tried to explain as Kiba dragged her from the alley. "Did you see? Did you see what happened?"

"I saw," he said hurriedly, turning his head around behind them. "You glitched."

"It just... turned off. Why would it turn off?"

"Kinda need you to concentrate here, Sakura!"

The two of them had been paired up for an assassination mission. The target was a small, newly formed group of gangsters that needed to be eliminated all in one go. They had infiltrated the gang's private VIP poker room at the casino disguised as servers, and, with Sakura's unique skill for distraction, they had all been successfully poisoned by the beverages she served them. Not one tickle of suspicion from anyone.

"_That was efficient," Kiba praised after the last head hit the table. "They didn't choke or complain or anything. What was that?"_

"_Developed it myself in the hospital lab," she replied absently, keeping her eyes from the table of men that perished under her skillful hand. "No smell, no taste, no color."_

"_You're really gunning for that nerd label, aren't you?"_

After discarding their server outfits, they had climbed out the window and scaled the building in order to escape as the sounds of panic began emitting from the VIP room.

With their sharingans activated, walking on the impossible narrow ledge seemed like a stroll through the park as it secured their equilibrium, gave them night vision, and let them know precisely where their hands and feet should go to ensure the highest probability of stability.

Everything had been fine as they headed toward the fire escape on the other side of the building. Everything had been fine until the red layer in Sakura's eye vanished with a simple blink. Her vision went black, as it would have for an ordinary person with unadjusted vision in the dead of night. With her balance compromised, she had felt her blood run cold as quickly as her foot missed the next stop and sent her stumbling off the ledge.

Sakura had reacted quickly though, grabbing the ledge with her right hand.

"Sakura!" Kiba hissed in alarm, his vivid red eyes being the only thing she could make out in the darkness. He made to turn back and help when she shook her head quickly.

"Go!" she whispered as she hoisted herself up so her left hand could grab the ledge as well. Closing her eyes tightly, wishfully, she summoned back her sharingan. It worked - much to her immensely grateful, yet ungrateful, relief. Her eye scanned the ground below her and revealed a window washing platform two stories below. "Don't waste time. Meet me on the ground."

And with that, Sakura released her hold on the narrow ledge and allowed herself to plummet.

She hit the platform hard and immediately rolled to lie flat on her back. She listened carefully, making sure no one on that particular floor had seen her fall onto the platform just outside their window. Screaming would've been a reasonable reaction to seeing a body flop down from the sky at random, but so far only the sounds of chatter and slot machines could be heard.

She inched up and peered over the window ledge. Sure enough, it revealed a busy floor of the casino where clearly no one had noticed a thing.

Looking further below, Sakura's sharingan informed her of another three stories left, but with an open dumpster available to break her fall. Organic material, the red orb told her simply. No sharp or blunt objects detected – off you go!

She sighed. This was probably going to hurt, but being as well acquainted with pain as she was, the prediction wasn't a deterrent.

As the rows of patrons stared unrelenting at their slot machines, Sakura hopped from the platform and fell gracefully into the casino's back alley.

"Your poison was good, but next time I say we use guns," Kiba panted as they continued their run through the city's back streets. Their car was only a few more blocks away. "Poison takes too long. The bodies were found way too fast."

Sakura ignored his attempt to distract the conversation. "You're not going to say anything, are you?"

"About what?"

"Kiba, I'm serious-!"

They skidded to a stop as flashing red and blue lights suddenly flooded the corridor ahead of them. The police were probably working fast to be on the lookout for anything suspicious coming from the casino's direction. Sakura grabbed Kiba's arm just as a squad car rounded the corner and slumped lazily against him. Their labored breathing expertly tranquilized.

The car signaled them to stop with a sharp blare of its siren and Kiba quickly caught on to Sakura's thinking by wrapping a supportive arm around her waist.

The window rolled revealing two male officers inside.

"Where are you two coming from?" the driver asked.

"Where haven't we been coming from?" Sakura slurred happily. "Like, so many places. I drank the last one, officer. It is _so_ not there anymore!"

The officer raised an eyebrow wearily at the swaying girl and looked to Kiba. The other officer appeared entertained by the pretty drunken girl as he eyed her tight black clothing appreciatively.

"Sorry, sir," Kiba apologized, embarrassment sketching his features "My girlfriend's wasted. It's her birthday."

"It's my birthday!" Sakura chirped. She winked lazily at the officer in the passenger seat who couldn't help but wink back.

The driving officer appeared distracted as he looked away from the couple towards the casino. "Fine," he grunted. "Just get her home and get off the streets."

The police car pulled away and sped in the direction they came from, likely responding to the call of a mass murder in the casino's VIP room.

When they were alone once again, Sakura rounded on her teammate without missing a beat.

"You can't tell anyone about the glitch."

"Sakura," Kiba sighed, as they resumed running to their car. "You can't keep something like that to yourself. If there's a problem with your sharingan, you have to let Tsunade know. It almost killed you."

"There's **no** problem!" Sakura insisted. "It was my fault. _I'm_ the one who lost control. My sharingan is _fine_."

"You act like they're going to take it back if they found out!"

"_Exactly_!"

"Sakura-"

"You're not deaf, Kiba. I know you hear what everyone's saying behind my back. Everyone's waiting for something to go wrong. Everyone thinks I'm not meant for any of this."

They reached their car and climbed in, the slamming of the doors unnecessarily loud.

"Then maybe stop giving a shit about what people are saying because it's sure as hell not a good enough reason to put your life in danger," snapped Kiba as he grappled with his keys in annoyance.

"Fine. I'll work on it. But just do me a favor and don't mention this on the report."

The boy scoffed as he pulled the car into traffic but didn't comment further on the subject. They sat in silence for several blocks until he glanced at Sakura with sudden curiosity.

She pouted. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Smirking, Kiba reached over and pulled a wilted piece of lettuce from her tousled pink hair.

"Did our princess land in a compost heap?"

* * *

"You may go on with your scheduled missions as planned, but you are to report to the medical center every morning for testing until it's apparent there are no reoccurring issues with your sharingan."

Sakura sighed outwardly, tightening her fists sourly within the pockets of her black trench coat. Her heel unconsciously tapped the floor in frustration.

"Are we clear, Sakura?" Tsunade asked impatiently.

"We're clear, ma'am."

The older woman placed both hands on her desk and rose silently, eyes narrowing at Sakura's obvious disapproval.

"Don't get smart with me, girl. I don't exactly have more of you to spare, so you'll forgive me if I'm strongly invested with your well-being."

The pink-haired girl bit her lip, the selfishness of her behavior becoming abundantly clear. "I'm sorry, Tsunade," she apologized. "I know I'm being difficult."

The other woman chuckled leniently. "_Be_ difficult, Sakura. Just don't forget to be smart. If the slightest thing goes wrong with that implant I want to hear it from you, _not_ from your colleagues."

She nodded curtly in defeat. "Yes, ma'am," she repeated with added sincerity.

Sakura had always been grateful for the unique bond she shared with Tsunade. Though the elderly woman was the Hidden Leaf's leader and legendary icon, she often took the time to personally mentor and guide the person she often viewed as her younger mirror image.

More often then not, Sakura had been the target of bullying during her first initial years within the operation. The other girls simply did not like her. It was the strange pink hair, the expressive green eyes, the fact that she had been allowed in based on looks alone. These qualities did not sit well with the other female orphans in an environment that lavished the spotlight sparingly on non-sharingan users.

Cruel as they come, a pack of girls had cornered the decidedly timid and shy Sakura during the last leg of a weapons training exercise. They had waited until class was nearly over, knowing that their victim liked to practice her swordplay long after the instructor had left. They had caught her alone. They had grabbed Sakura's long pink hair with a savage, scalp-wrenching hold and teased her for having a misplaced sense of vanity. They called her ugly. They called her a freak. And in a moment of unexpected resilience, the pink haired girl picked up her sword, and severed the length of her thick, vibrant hair. The other girl stumbled back having lost her grip and stared in shock at the three feet of pink hair that fell like liquid past her fingertips.

They were gone before Tsunade had found Sakura of course, having fled the scene that potentially accused them of cutting Sakura's hair, though she never attempted to sway the story as such. The small girl openly admitted to slicing her locks down to barely shoulder-length with a tired, uncaring shrug when Tsunade demanded to know what happened. "They seem to hate it to a point where it spoils their day," ten year old Sakura shrugged, referring to the frayed pink strands on her head, "Mine too. Figured I was doing everyone a favor."

It was then that Tsunade developed a fondness for this highly intelligent, curiously outstanding child with a fire deep down that could not be extinguished. She made it her mission to show this girl that strength came in many forms, and that encompassing and accepting all that makes you who you are would be the first and utmost important step to climbing the ranks around you. It was the first of many motivating talks which would result in Sakura almost never being affected by the mean girl whispers behind her back, and the driving force that let her know she could handle the implant.

And now, seeing as they were the only two woman to ever possess the sharingan, they were a dangerous force to be reckoned with when placed side by side.

Bringing the lecture to a close, Tsunade reached over to the looming pile of folders, papers and envelopes atop her desk. After reading the label briefly, she extended an envelope in Sakura's direction. "Your next mission," she said evenly. "Naruto put in a request for your assistance."

Sakura couldn't help the slight stiffening of her jaw as she hesitantly accepted the envelope. "Naruto has Sasuke."

"And in no way can Sasuke do what you do. Go. You're dismissed."

She nodded again and slid the assignment letter into her coat pocket.

At the end of the long stretch of hallway leading up to Tsunade's office, Sakura knew who would be waiting for her around the corner.

"Sakura-" Kiba began in earnest, but she wouldn't allow him to continue. Grabbing his shirt collar, she slammed him furiously against the closest wall, offhandedly hoping they were safely far enough from her mentor's office.

"You lied to me," she accused darkly. "You _told her_. How the hell could you do this to me?"

"Easy!" Kiba choked out as he grabbed at her hand and pried the tightening fingers from his shirt. "I never said I wouldn't. And _of course_ I did!"

Sakura stepped back and released her grip. "If they decide to remove the implant, Kiba, I swear to God..." She growled in frustration and turned to walk away. "You just don't get it."

"C'mon, Gorgeous..."

"Shoot yourself."

"Your eye's still there, isn't it?" Kiba argued as he followed Sakura through the usual bustle of the Hidden Leaf. "Tsunade didn't pluck it out with a pair of tongs!"

She knew their argument wasn't over given Kiba's stubbornness to be in the right. Changing course, she led the discussion somewhere less public so the whole operation wouldn't overhear that she experienced a problem with her implant.

"This is no big deal for you, is it?" Sakura accused as she threw open the doors to the facility's courtyard. "Your sharingan's been flawless for years! Nobody expects anything to go wrong with _you_!"

"See, _this_ is your problem right here!" he snapped as forcefully pushed the doors in hot pursuit.

"What, you ratting on me? Of course that's my problem."

"No," came the exasperated reply as Kiba reached forward and grabbed her arm. "Jeez, woman, would you stop and talk to me like normal?"

Sakura childishly pushed away his hand but regretted being so unnecessarily cold. There was no point even though she was mad out of her skull at the scruffy, brown-haired man before her. Grinding her teeth, she tried her best to regain some level of composure. "Look," she began slowly, "You're my friend Kiba, and I love you. But I'm finding it really really hard to talk to you right now so this is all the 'normal' I can package together. Talk, or prepare to die."

Kiba held his hands up to appease her anger. "I'm just looking out for you, Sakura. You know that. I'm not out to get your eyeball scooped and sold on Ebay just so all the people who doubted that a girl can handle the sharingan can say I told you so – that's all in your goddamn head, you crazy-ass woman."

Though the reality of her misdirected rage was seeping in, she scowled hard and he was quick to retract.

"But I am sorry," Kiba admitted sincerely. "I'm sorry. You asked me to keep a secret and I didn't. I'm sorry. We've been through a lot and I don't ever want you _not_ trusting me. That would suck."

The idea that her anger at his concern for her health had him now worried she trusted him less was absurd, and now she couldn't help but feel stupid for reacting the way she did. She sighed her resignation from the subject and nodded, hoping it was enough to clear his doubt. Kiba Inuzuka, like Naruto, had been a good friend to her since childhood and, like Naruto again, he was damn near impossible to stay mad at.

"I know," Sakura breathed tiredly. "I get it. It's okay."

He seemed to scan her demeanor before looking regrettably at his watch.

"Look, I've gotta run," he told her as he placed a supportive hand on her shoulder. "I've got a new assignment and I'm already late for the briefing."

"Of course," she told him with an encouraging wave to usher him off. She smiled weakly to assure him they were on good terms. "Go! You can't be late anymore or Kakashi will write you up."

"Like he's one to talk," Kiba sneered bitterly, "Okay. Sorry, Sakura. We'll talk later!"

Her flustered mind barely registered Kiba's retreating footsteps as she stared off into the dim evening light of the courtyard. She berated herself for selfishly attacking him when all he did was ultimately, and unselfishly, the right thing. So right in fact, that with or without a medical background, she wouldn't have thought twice about informing Tsunade if Kiba's sharingan had endangered him in some way.

There was no need to make an explosion out of a tiny spark. The implant was new; her brain was not used to the firing of so many signals. There was no reason to believe that the glitch she had experienced earlier was more than a one-time fluke. Get it together, Haruno, you paranoid sissy.

As she chanted insult after insult, her hands nervously lit a cigarette – the vice for desperate times.

Kiba had been right. Maybe she had to stop thinking everyone was out to get her. Maybe the only person rooting for her to fail was her own insecurity. It was time to stop being childish. She was the only female sharingan user active on the field and it would serve her sanity well to start thinking of that fact as an extraordinary advantage rather than the opposite. If her sharingan was weak, maybe it was because _she _was deep down_._

Well, to be fair, maybe her insecurity wasn't the only thing truly rooting for her to fail. Her peripheral spotted another loiterer in the courtyard; a tall, dark, stupidly handsome man, hopefully out of earshot.

_Really_ hopefully out of earshot, Sakura prayed.

Sasuke Uchiha stood at the opposite end of the courtyard smoking a cigarette and looking off with disinterest. If he noticed she was there he didn't show it and she could find comfort in this facade at least.

He was the last person she wanted overhearing that something had gone wrong with her sharingan seeing as how he had been openly disgusted at the idea of her having it. Knowing that it glitched was just icing atop a poorly baked cake and there was no way she was letting that asshole collect further ammunition against her. If he ever found out, and the start of her week looked promising, she could wager he'd break it out on a Tuesday to remind her she clearly didn't belong in his testosterone-powered Sasuke world.

As her free hand absently slid to rest in her coat pocket, she felt the envelope of her next assignment graze her fingertips.

_Aw, crap..._ the pink-haired girl realized. And now she had a mission with Naruto. Good job, fate. And just for the fun of it all, why not give her a mission where Sasuke's primary role was to tag along and shadow everything that was happening. He was either going to pick apart everything she did or barely register the fact she existed.

Considering their surroundings, Sakura resisted the urge to throw a courtyard chair at the prodigy's head before deciding it wasn't worth her time. Plus her side still felt sore from the fall she sustained the evening before. Throwing a chair would only exacerbate it.

She mentally shrugged. Well, whatever. Sasuke's opinion could suck it. She had thought that maybe they could get by with a reserved acquaintanceship once he had settled back home, but after the way he had practically accused her of committing a crime against nature it seemed there was very little to be salvaged in regards to friendship.

He had Naruto as a best friend and he had the entire female population of the Hidden Leaf to worship the ground he walked on. There didn't seem to be a category for her to fall under.

Sakura winced slightly after a deep inhale. There was no point in ignoring it further: there was still the matter of a possibly broken rib to attend to. Scuffing out the remainder of her cigarette with her heel, she placed both hands in her pockets and headed back inside. She gingerly applied pressure to her side and hissed a little from the sharp pain that rocketed like a lightening current.

The heavy glass doors to the courtyard slammed shut behind her as she made her way to the infirmary to get herself patched up. It wasn't uncommon for members to return from missions with broken bones and torn-up skin, but if you logged a less than average time with the doctors it was impressive in the eyes of the Hidden Leaf's council. Their approval, sadly, was still something she strived for ever since the day they wrinkled their noses at her appearance.

When she was younger, and when the council decided Sakura would be better off at the hospital than on the field, she had been trained as a nurse for several years. It had been a major part of her life before her sudden determination to reattempt joining the black ops squad. She had medical expertise under her belt and usually used it to keep her trips to the infirmary scarce. If it meant sewing up her own wounds with a needle and thread, then so be it, that's what her sewing kit was for.

Sakura winced again as she nodded at the young nurse behind the counter who only frowned back and told her to take a seat. Another face to add to her own personal club of haters. But now was certainly not the time to take matters into her own hands, so this bitchy nurse would just have to deal with her.

Slumping against the wall, Sakura pulled the assignment letter from her pocket and scanned the details of what Naruto needed her help with. Whatever it was, it was something Naruto and Sasuke couldn't pull off on their own which peaked her interest.

_Zaku Abumi..._

_Frequents strip club, Icha Icha..._

_Suspected theft of client's data..._

_Building security high..._

_Need distraction tactic to gain key card by means of..._

She sighed and allowed the back of her head to hit the wall with a heavy roll of her wary green eyes. The echoing 'thud' that followed seemed to punctuate the sudden annoyance she had for a certain loud-mouthed blonde boy.

"Oh c'mon, seriously, Naruto?" she thought aloud through gritted teeth. "I'm gonna kill you."

* * *

**Author's note: **I've been getting a lot of questions about the setting I've built as people are asking why my Naruto world is using guns and cars and all other things that don't belong. So just to clarify, my fun hungry minds: this story is set in an alternate universe (AU) and it's a kind of "modern day ninja life" - except they refer to themselves as ninjas unofficially (almost jokingly) cause of the nature of their work. I imagined this AU being in a darker version of our own modern day (like a sin city or gotham) and the Hidden Leaf is a black ops covert operation being run secretly with mercenaries for hire. Much like how in the Naruto world, ninjas could be hired out for missions. But there's no chakra. Just guns and sexy vehicles.

Sorry for the lack of updates, friends. And it's poorly written. I know. I'm sorry. My grammar is garbage. I'm a busy girl who's kicking ass and taking names cause my job will eat me alive if I don't. Also, I'm trying to plan my wedding simultaneously and I'm sucking pretty hard at it. Why are weddings so damn expensive? Elopement: It's an idea.

Good thing the latest chapters of Naruto have been rekindling my lost love for Sasuke.


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